Family Sues in Missouri Dog-Shooting SWAT Raid

The Columbia, Missouri, family whose dogs were shot during a Columbia Police SWAT raid in February, video of which went viral on the Internet, filed a federal civil lawsuit Monday against the City of Columbia and 13 other defendants in US Western District Court in Jefferson City.

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The raid, in which police expected to find a large quantity of marijuana and other evidence of drug dealing, turned up a miniscule amount of marijuana and a pot pipe. Jonathan Whitworth was originally charged with possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and second-degree child endangerment, but in a plea agreement, pleaded guilty to the paraphernalia count, and the other charges were dropped.

The suit was filed by Columbia attorneys Milt Harper and Jeff Hilbrenner on behalf Jonathan and Brittany Whitworth and her seven-year-old son. It alleges that SWAT team members broke down the door, discharged weapons as they entered and again as they shot and killed one dog and wounded the other. It also alleges than Jonathan Whitworth was kicked by an officer as he lay on the floor at gunpoint, and that Brittany Whitworth and her child were held at gunpoint sitting on the floor in view of the child's dead dog.

"Defendants had no reason to use deadly force or any other force upon entering the Whitworth home," the complaint charges. "Defendants were all armed with assault weapons and side arms and other weapons. Jonathan Whitworth, Brittany Whitworth, and P. M. [the child] were not armed, were not violent, were not resisting and were no threat to Defendants or anyone else. The two pet dogs were no threat to anyone and there was no reason to use assault weapons on those two animals. Defendants, under color of law, deprived each Plaintiff of rights secured under the Constitution and laws of the United States. Defendants conspired to deprive each Plaintiff of rights secured under the Constitution and laws of the United States. Defendants refused or failed to prevent the deprivation of Plaintiffs' rights secured under the Constitution and laws of the United States."

The lawsuit seeks restitution for bullet hole and door damage to the Whitworth home, as well as medical and veterinary expenses for the dead and wounded dogs. It is filed against the officers who were on the scene.

"This is all about demanding professionalism from our law enforcement agencies," Harper said Monday. "I think when they considered the 7-year-old and the fact that he had to have counseling, pay vet bills for an injured dog and the loss of another, along with repairs to the home and the trauma of that night, they made the decision that this needed to be done," Harper said.

"Our department will discuss the matter with our risk management office and legal office and be able to comment further once we've had a chance to do that," Columbia police spokeswoman Officer Jessie Haden told the Columbia Tribune Monday afternoon. "Whatever we're able to discuss publicly and legally, we will. This incident has received an enormous amount of attention locally, and it is our intention to make the public as informed, with accurate information, as we can, without compromising the legal process."

The raid and heated public response to it has led to repeated public hearings in Columbia, and the department moved quickly to review and revamp its policy regarding the use of the SWAT team on search warrants. But it will likely have to pay for its errors in the Whitworth raid.

Any law enforcement officer and the agency responsible for this act of animal cruelty, invasion of privacy and complete waste of taxpayers dollars should be put in jail, fired from their jobs and made to pay ALL costs incurred by this poor family. Who the hell cares if they had some pot and a pipe in the house? So does half of the country! This is ridiculous, disgusting and makes me sick. No wonder so many have lost respect for law enforcement in the US.

This is what prohibition is all about. These guys are thrill seekers with the best tickets in town. They can do what ever they like and get away with it. The cops involved won't get anything more than a slap on the wrists for this. Prohibition is a crime and the police are criminals. Prohibition has to end completely, everywhere, now!

i,m glad to see that this family is sueing the police and swat over the raid.the swat thugs terroized the family,shot the dogs infront of a minor child which tantamounts to child endangerment.there was no need to shoot the dogs.i am calling for the resignation of ken burton police cheif and calling for the resignation of the officers that shot the dogs and calling for their prosecution!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! for animal abuse,animal cruelty,animal neglect,aand for child endangerment.

We're not sure if Burton is personally to blame. The SWAT team procedures were in place a long time before he relatively recently took office. Since the incident he has done some good things like support know your rights efforts like the 10 Rules for Dealing with Police movie, and has expressed support for legalizing marijuana. We are unsatisfied with the changed in SWAT team policy to date, but they are real changes.

The horrific thing is that our police have withdrawn from our community, and ensconced themselves in armored SWAT apparatus... preventing true policing and trust with its citizens, all the while rushing headlong into a full military-style assault on US citizens.

Stop Law Enforcement's Addiction to Drug Profits!! Its disgusting. In our current model of drug prohibition, our Narco-Cops are obscene Drug WAR PROFITEERS.

After rescheduling cannabis federally and prohibiting SWAT use without proof of lethal danger, we need to demand regular periodic mental evaluation for all public servants, including police, judicial and elected representatives. This war mentality where the public is dehumanized to rationalize cruelty has to be stopped. Protect and SERVE needs to be understood by Civil SERVants.

Increasingly there are reports of police shooting family dogs during raids when it is not necessary; one has to wonder if some police are sadistic, delight in cruelty. Police that shoot family pets unnecessarily, should have to submit to psychological examinations.

News reports of abusive SWAT Team raids on Americans' homes are beginning to mirror in many respects the police/military raids in Northern Ireland 1975-1995. Belfast police raids increasingly involved military styled police to abate ordinary crimes. Amidst expanding bloodshed, Irish “Catholic political activists” in 1991-gained possession of a British Government study that concerned: how to control civilian populations by integrating military forces with civilian police activities; that is now happening in America. The thrust of the British study was how to Control “civilian populations” through “misinformation, intimidation and other conditioning” to cause a population to both fear and accept increasing militarized police involvement in their lives; to cause less "public resistance" when persons are arrested in communities deemed undesirable by government.

Subsequently through 1995 and the early 2000’s UK documents were leaked to the Republic of Ireland and British press that showed several prior Northern Ireland police raids on civilian homes involved British Intelligence and were done to falsely arrest political activists and in some cases, raids were believed cover for British political assassinations. One of those leaked documents involved a British operation called “Steak Knife”; that information may be accessed by searching: The “Steak Knife” affair and Britain’s dirty war in Northern Ireland

The now common practice of shooting dogs as soon as they are encountered by police and sheriffs departments all over the country can only be explained by training that has become uniform countrywide.

It is well-known that the federal government is heavily involved in funding of law enforcement training and equipment purchases across the 50 states. It is also well-known that with the funding come requirements that the feds insist upon. It

Obama Fulfills Hank Sullivan's Prediction of Federal Grants to Fund Georgia DCS ("HB310 has been dubbed the "Police State in the Peach State Bill" by those who have seen this coming.")

More on federal funding can be read by by doing a search for "strings attached federal funding" and finding Web pages such as https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/why-is-federal-funding-of-the-police-state-bad/

"State and federal funding of anything is a very, very bad idea for the same reason, which is that local people lose control of their own resources." (Once officials are free from local funding, local people and their opinions are both treated as unwelcome.)